Monthly Archives: May 2012

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From the colorful Miami Beach here is the the Colony Hotel. I awoke this day around 5 AM and went down to the main strip to catch the lights. It was quiet…luckily! Typically its crazy. I must say being middle aged…Miami is def a place for youth and the party people! The women are dressed up at 10 AM and you can find all kinds of odd folks there as well. One time me and the family stayed at a hotel on the strip and had to check out the next morning. Everyone was partying in the hotel at 2 AM. Too much for me…my party days are over. And I also needed my rest to get up in a few hours to catch photos of the sunrise! LOL

It was summer at this time and the standard Florida camera situation arose this AM. I came from a nice cool air conditioned hotel room. Parked on the strip. Grabbed my camera, took it out and due to the high humidity…it fogged up right away. Just wiping it does not help. You have to wait about 10 mins for it to adjust. I had forgot about this and had to wait it out. Just in time before the sun rose…I grabbed the shot above. Enjoy your weekend!

From the city that never sleeps…New York City…and HDR of the famous Radio City Music Hall. Love this city! Wish I could visit soon!

It is a little busy around here these days. We are moving soon to SoCal and unfortunately, the blog will slow down for a few weeks. Probably 1 post/week til July. I also have a new logo (on today’s picture) and am in the middle of re-branding to Peter Talke Photography. I also have some BIG projects in the works…I will keep you posted!

Later this summer and in the future…look for some cool HDR and IR shots from Orange County and the LA Area! I used to live there 7 years ago…and it will be nice to go back and look at the area with a fresh eye and some new skills! Have fun!

A shout out to Bek Davis Web/Development Design! Bek created my new logo and she did one fantastic job! If you are thinking about a new look…send her an email!! Thanks Bek!! You rock!

I fly into Denver a decent amount a times per year. Every time I ride the car rental shuttle bus I pass this super cool Bronco statue. Tough to miss! I always say…I have to grab that shot one day! It is located in the middle of the major roads going in and out of the airport. This day I was driving back to the airport early and decided to pass the Hertz return center and pull on the shoulder….park my car and take the 5 minute walk up to the Bronco with my gear. Not sure if it is the safest idea…but sometimes to get cool shots, ya gotta do dumb things! The surrounding area is not great…so I added some textures to spruce it up. It was taken during the winter time and was a bit chilly this day as well! Now I can take this shot of the bucket list!

From the AMA Motocross race back in 2010 in Wortham, Texas…my favorite rider…Ryan Dungey. The 2012 AMA Motocross season starts this Saturday! I’m super pumped! I will miss the race in Wortham in a few weeks..but will try to get to 1 or 2 this year! Dungey looks to be a favorite to win it this year with a few main guys out due to injury. Good luck Ryan! Hangotown on this Saturday…FUELTV at 4 PM EST!

This is my recent HDR Composite. Trenton from the Lake Travis baseball team did a great job! His catcher gear for a shot like this rocks! I truly love these HDR Composites….it is becoming a favorite of mine. I thought of mass producing them, but it does take time in processing. As I type this post up…I’ll breakdown the composite and give you the equipment I have…it will be interesting to see how much it costs. This will be the first time I calculated it! Now I do not have the big time equipment as a studio or Joel Grimes. I am shooting this in a spare bedroom in my house. OK…here goes (for those that are curious)

Session time – 25 minutes (10 different poses)
Processing time – 90 minutes
Tips: The light rays are tough to handle with a mouse. I use the Wacom Intuos 5. The pen tool rocks! Cost: $349.00

Hope you enjoyed the rundown. I’d call this the advanced low budget set up. It works great! Now with this set up…it is more for upper body composites. For full body shots I would need bigger (longer) soft boxes. That will come in time as well. Enjoy your weekend!

From the Albuquerque, NM near downtown you can find the Botanic Garden right near the Rio Grande. It is ok..but has a few nice spots. Perfect for IR. This is a shot from the Japanese Garden. The shot above is from my new upgraded Photoshop CS6. CS6 now includes a filter called “Oil Paint”. In previous versions you had to download this as a plug in and it was called “Pixel Bender”. It is one cool filter! Great for trees and flowers! This is the standard shot…

One of the coolest church designs is the Air Force Academy Chapel. This day I arrived after 6 PM…so unfortunately the inside was closed, but the outside was well worth the shot and visit! The Air Force Academy is located about 14 miles north of Colorado Springs, CO. From the exit, you go through a checkpoint and 4 miles down the road you can find the academy. Beautifully placed in the hills of Colorado.

Some info from the web: The Cadet Chapel is the most popular man-made attraction in Colorado, with more than a half million visitors every year. Groundbreaking began on the iconic landmark Aug. 28, 1959, and was completed in 1963 at a cost of $3.5 million. The Cadet Chapel’s principal designer and architect was Walter A. Netsch Jr. A Chicago native, Mr. Netsch studied architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, receiving his degree in 1943 and joining the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. He was 34 when he completed the design for the chapel.

The chapel’s aluminum, glass and steel structure soars more than 150 feet into the Colorado sky. Its 17 spires can be easily spotted from Interstate 25, several miles east.
The Cadet Chapel staff’s mission is to inspire men and women to become leaders of character through spiritual formation.